Flood Control For Inundated Neighborhood

(Photo- KXNT Sam Stone) Residents in and around the Desert Rose Golf Course examine a map of the FEMA flood zone.

Las Vegas CBS KXNT – Residents at the Desert Rose Golf Course and surrounding neighborhoods have endured repeated flooding at their homes, they told regional officials during a town hall meeting Wednesday night. The meeting was hosted by County Commissioner Chris Giunchilgliani, to discuss a pending channel improvement project to expand the capacity of the Las Vegas Wash.

The $35 million flood control project starts construction next year, to be complete in 2015. Engineers will reconfigure natural features on the golf course and enlarge concrete channels in a 2.5 mile area on either side, in order to accommodate the volume of water carried by a 100-year flood. A 100-year flood is defined as an event with a 1 percent chance of occurring in a given year.

Several attendees complained their homes took on water multiple times as a result of intense rain storms last summer and fall. September brought storms two weeks apart, leaving neighbors to deal with new flooding just days after having cleaned up from the month’s first flood. Some fear more fierce storms will occur between now and the project’s completion date.

Regional Flood District Engineer Joe Damiani told KXNT on Wednesday that virtually all storm runoff originating on the valley’s north side ends up in the Las Vegas Wash. The rain starts in the western mountains, and runs east toward the inundated neighborhood.

Damiani says the project was moved ahead to start sooner than originally planned.